Stipend Disparity: Nair Hospital Resident Doctors to go on mass leave

Mumbai: Waiting for nearly a month after informing the director of BYL Nair Hospital to pay attention to the due stipend, the resident doctors have now become impatient and threatening to start a mass leave if the hospital authorities fail to address their demand once again. 

Medical Dialogues team had previously reported about the incident that the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) wrote a letter to the Director informing the issue after several failed attempts to solve the matter through a meeting.

The matter became the focus of MARD after other civic-run hospitals provided stipends to the doctors. MARD said that hospitals like BMC and KEM were providing stipends to the doctors.

Also read- Mumbai: Nair Hospital Resident Doctors Raise Voice Against Stipend Disparity

The stipend system started during the COVID-19 period from May 2020, and an amount of Rs 10,000 was given to doctors each month who played a vital role during the pandemic period. Although the stipend was given to the resident doctors of Nair hospital for a few months, soon it was discontinued from January 2022.

Questioning the motive behind the discontinuation of the incentives, Dr Chetan Kumar Adrat, president of Nair hospital's MARD, said "During the pandemic, Nair Hospital was a dedicated COVID-19 facility. We still have a ward and are treating COVID-19 patients. We have a COVID-19 OPD too. Our COVID-19 work is more than the other hospitals, and we work hard for the well-being of the patients. Therefore, we wonder why this discrimination between resident doctors of other hospitals and us. All we are demanding is equal pay."

Dr Adrat said, "When senior officials here informed the administration about this, instead of giving us justice, BMC stopped the COVID allowance of all doctors of other medical colleges too. We have demanded that the authorities pay the outstanding allowance for those seven months to us. The hospital dean has made several correspondences to the director of civic-run medical colleges regarding this, but no one is interested in it. We have given one more chance to the administration to give us the dues for these seven months. If we still do not get it, we will go on mass leave."

Dr Pravin Rathi, dean of Nair medical college, told mid-day, "After the decline in COVID-19 cases, the COVID fund was halted. So, our accountant stopped giving the allowance to the doctors. Our resident doctors have already been in touch with the director about this."

Also read- Nagpur: Resident Doctors On Mass Leave Protest Refuse To Attend ICU Services